Building my PERFECT Smart Home Control Panel!
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In this video I take you through building my perfect smart home control panel with Home Assistant, I have wanted to do this for years and today is finally the day! I take you through my requirements for building my wall mounted smart home control panel, part selection and how I actually built it into my smart home, as well as some Home Assistant automations I have planned for it. I also show you the software for the wall panel too!
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Have you got a wall tablet or planning one? What automations would you do with it?! 😎
My home page for my wall tablet has the thermostat, alarm, weather, and I use conditional cards on mine to not clutter the display and only have items to control when I needed, or information when necessary. These include: - Card for severe weather alerts (tapping will show the attributes which is the alert information in-depth from US NWS) - Card for when the UV index is high or above - Card for if the garage is open (tapping allows the option to close) - Card for if certain doors are locked - Cards for certain lights that kids use, but don't turn off (tapping will turn off instantly or pop up options if they are RGB to change colors) I have other lovelace pages for cameras around the house and one for traffic cameras for intersections on our commute. This is great to see during the winter and know which route to take, or see if there is a wreck or just big back up for some reason. It is nice that they only pop up when I need to see them and not have to scroll or go to different pages to see what is important. I want to interact with HA as little as possible, it should be all automated. I use the light sensor from the tablet to automate lights in the area, and of course the camera is used for waking and sleeping the screen. I use a kindle fire HD8 and a Makes by Mike mount. I also use Fully Kiosk.
First of all thank you for making great video(s) I wasn't quite decided if I should go into it right now but this is so inspiring that I've already ordered one for myself :D. My main motivation is to use it as a first point of contact for every member of my family. First point of contact for: - Relevant information/warnings regarding house/meetings/analysis - Surveillance system - Control Hub for heating, irrigation system, media etc basically all gadgets that I have integrated in HA Also I want ability to wake up tablet and show some of these information/warnings to passing person when certain conditions are met (type of event, time etc) i.e. Garbage (people use to forget to put them out or they don't know which one is collecting), Door Bell, Intrusion, Important news about weather or just daily forecast early morning.
I'm planning to do something similar when I have my own house, but instead of cable I will attach a wireless adapter to take and use the tablet whenever I want and then leave it back in the wall without plugging/unplugging the cable. I didn't know about the browser/app you are using, great idea! I'm saving the video for the future :D
I use my wall mounted dashboard to see the traffic before i go to work using waze map and to tell me how long the journey is likely to take me
I have a wall tablet. It uses the picture elements card extensively to make a 3d plan of my apartment. Rooms light up when lights come on. It has a lot of functionality but mostly it just looks good! I was fortunate that there is wiring for an alarm system that wasn't used so I ran the power through that from the cupboard the alarm wires go to.
Lewis, the panel mount is fabulous. Great work! Watching you work, I'm impressed by how much you are capable of and how quickly you work. I cannot imagine how you fit it all in. Keep them coming!
Hey thanks Greg, appreciate it as always my man! I will need to take a break soon 😂
Aaah yes, the benefits of having hollow walls. Here in Belgium, almost every house is constructed with bricks, even the walls inside. When I renovated my home 10yr ago I never thought of having a smart home. Now I want a screen on the wall but the only way to achieve that is to create a large slit in the wall. It can be done with minimal dust but you have to have specialized tools. For now I guess I have to settle with a tablet holder on my living room closet. Nice job on the tablet holder btw!
My colleague who is much farther than me with Smart Home was really gutted that he'd not thought of adding a panel to tell him which bin needed to go out on the correct day before I suggested it. He's nailed it. Great videos. Thank you
This is so awesome! Thank you! I'm finally encouraged to do this project and be confident it will look great! You're the best!
Hey thanks buddy!
Another power option is to use POE with either a simulcharge or a Poe to usb converter (if you have a data cable nearby that can be repurposed or are able to get one to the location)
The one thing I'd change would be using a magnetic charging cable so you don't need to unplug it when you take it out of the wall. I'd use the tablet as a tablet sometimes. (If you want a good one, I have a NXTech cable, I liked it so much I bought 2 extra cables for it, one for my bedroom, one for my livingroom and one for my car)
I have been thinking about a tablet more than a smart screen for a long time and discovering your video encourages me to face the project. Thank you very much from Argentina
I have the same tablet used together with home assistant. I will take a look at your design for a wall mount. Very happy you made this design.
Nice video. I had a similar project and went with many of the same steps as you did. One thing though I can recommend to you is in the android settings: Battery Saver mode. Most modern tablets should have that. It will only allow your tablet to charge to a certain percentage (60 or 80 or something like that) which will keep your battery healthy and from balooning up, keeping your installation healthy for years. Then you also don't need to use a smart socket for charging anymore. Depending on the power draw of the smart socket, it can even save you power to just let the charger cplugged in 24/7.
Lol is this actually true? I havn't used battery saving mode in years but i've always been under the impression that it only reduces the power consumption..
@@nicksmalldick It's not true. The fool does not have a clue what he's talking about. He just spreading bulls_/hit. If you charge to 100% it's not going to harm anything, short-term or long-term.
I am now convinced google can read my thoughts. I have been trying to set up my smart home for about a year now. All this time I was thinking of running home assistant on raspberry Pi using a monitor. One week back I decided a wall mounted Android tablet would be a better choice but i never searched for this specific thing online. But lo and behold KZhead suggests this video out of nowhere. Don't know if it's sheer coincidence or if google is looking out for me 😂😂
It's called Magic 😅
Bros data got sold
I am just planning my smart home and I think you have done a truly amazing job and I have picked up so many tips from you. Thanks so much
Thanks my friend, really appreciate that!
Great job Lewis and inspiring! I ordered HA Green and the Sky Connect from you last week and look forward to following your journey, videos and advice.
Love it! Planning to replace my personal Toon Thermostat with something like this. One thing I would suggest is to use a transformer that you could just place near your power socket. Did the same thing for my camera. (220v to 12v) especially for 5v equipment there are a lot of options you could do. Even place a Shelly between it to power cycle it. Good job man 👍
Are you dutch?
@@Nathan-wz5tm yup, born and raised.
Looks amazing, would really love to see the Yaml used to make the dashboard so I can understand how it's done, I am currently messing with custom layouts and struggling to make anything look even 10% as nice
Second that!! Nice flow with the overall design, and now I see how less is more. Visually aesthetic.
yup
yeah, same here.
Going down into the spiral of smart homes and my gawd everything looks so great I can’t wait to start on my home!
Looks awesome man!! Congrats on the custom design for the tablet support. Really love your videos.
Thanks buddy, appreciate it!
Amazing to see, i have the exact same setup for a month or two now. Galaxy Tab A7 running HA on Fully Kiosk and i must say i'm extremly satisfied with it as well. Tablet quality is amazing, HA runs fast and stable. Also the screen quality is very good, i use a handfull of high quality images from unsplash to loop as screensavers and it just look so good.
Nice, good to hear your having a good experience with the tablet too!
@@EverythingSmartHome I hope your setup is still good, my battery has swollen and died after a little under a year on a brand new device from being on the charger permanently 😅 For my next try I'll definitely add a smart switch in before the charger and use the battery data from Fully kiosk to automatically turn on/off charging when needed instead of permanently. Thankfully a new battery is cheap and relatively easy to replace 👍
@@robt7287 I have the same tablet and died after 1 year as well. Today I am about to replace the battery myself hoping to get more lifetime with some settings as you say.
@@mercuryin1 I've replaced it as well, relatively easy since the screen already had popped off due to the swollen battery
Looks amazing. I have a very similar setup. A piece of advice. Grab some sand paper, spray paint and clear coat spray. Sand it, paint it, coat it and you will be shocked by the result. You can easily get a result that looks like piano black finish which looks like you bought and not 3D printed. Its not so hard. Even my first attempt turned out great.
Important to add the grit of the sandpaper, I'd advise grit1500 and up for a near mirror finish
But anything from grit500 and up will give a nice finish
so glad I got a CR-10 when it was on sale. Printing it all in one piece is just so much cleaner. Plus if you print in matte filament it will hide the layer lines really well I think he should have just made a cover-plate out of wood or something, would be better looking
Excellent video, genius idea and impressive execution!
Looks great! I am about to go down this route myself so this is really interesting and it's given me some ideas.
Amazing, good luck with it!
Wow, you have done a nice job there. I went through exactly the same process earlier in the year with a very similar design I made in fusion 360, the number of iterations it took until I had something close to what you managed was crazy. I was never 100% satisfied with it so I bought a professionaly 3d printed one from the US for £60 which turned out to be perfect but the point is the build area and the area where the join is are very difficult to get right, that is a great achievement!
Thanks, appreciate it! Yeah, the 3d design isn't something I'm that great at, takes a few attempts for me to get it right 😂
Could you provide a link or at least the name of the company or site in the US where you purchased your 3d printed case?
@@eltonnoway5692 MB Mounts do a Samsung mount that seems quite popular. They also have a solution for the power, either standalone for your own case or as part of their 3d printed case bundle.
Lewis Great Video! I totally want to have a doorbell press show a full screen camera on screen. walking through that automation would be awesome! Thanks again for all the hard work
same please
It's actually REAALLY simple using fully kiosk!
Great vídeo Lewis. Have anyone try to used and old. android phone as an doorcamera?
@@EverythingSmartHome great work! I too have done some experiments with the management of an ip doorbell via the home assistant and the most complicated thing is the two-way audio. I believe it is necessary to implement pbx server and client and use a compatible doorbell. What do you think?
Yes.. Please make a video on that
I ended up going with installing a hinged access panel in the wall with the power supply and some sonoff equipment behind. An automaton I've set up is 1 button (labeled leaving home) activates the alarm, closes all the shutters, turning off the lights and AC with a 15sec delay on locking the door. The video door bell pop up idea sounds great!
The design of your wall mount is great and your dashboard also. Liked it very much 👍🏼
Thanks man!
My Amazon Fire 10 HD with mbmounts has been a game changer for user acceptance of my family. I got the power kit from mbmounts and Fully Kiosk and it works perfectly. I can even dim/turn off/turn on at specific times of day/night to make it dimmer in the evenings and off in the middle of the night.
Can you explain the MBMounts power cable? Is it a tiny usb plug with exposed wires to pair with the power method you chose? It's hard to make out what's going on in the pics.
would love to see that doorbell idea. A quick panel showing which family members are currently home (and when they arrived home) would be useful. Also some statistics for the house might be nice, such as how much power has been used in the past 24 hours - and maybe a comparison to see that power usage versus the same period last week.
A bit creepy you want to know who is home and when they get home….. seems a bit stalkerish if youre unaware of who is in your house and when they come in
@@ttss5726 if you have a big house and self reliant children it’s probably nice to know they aren’t missing 🤷🏻♂️
@@ttss5726 How is it not knowing who is in your house and when they came in stalkerish? Anyway, I don't think it's creepy to want to know where your family members are and for the smart home it's also a good thing, the more information it has, the more it can consider and act upon.
Thank you for your video, especially the software part. For the tablet I would suggest powering it with PoE. For mounting I would go for a low profile design. What I have in mind it remove plaster board for the size of the tablet and replace by a 1/4 inch smaller plywood. Dual lock velcro on the plywood and on the tablet and voila. It would almost feel like it's in the wall.
Please make some more videos about automations and cool ideas involving your control panel!
Super tremendous. I've been looking at doing the exact same thing, and have had pretty much the exact same issues and requirements. Love that you put this together...now to find a 3D printer, and learn how to do that. :-)
Look forward to seeing what you put together!!
I would plan the device to show rotating family photos (digital pic frame), with say time and temp. showing in the corner. Then when touched, it would switch to HA dashboard. Not sure what root I would take (from several I can think of) but that is the idea.
Thanks for the video, that looks really awesome and inspiring!
Thanks my friend!
Awesome work, congrats ! The motion sensor that wakes up the tablet is pretty convenient !
Thanks buddy! Yeah it's quite nice! 😅
Great video, I guess everyone in the comments sections are pretty interested in how you've manage to achieve such a well design dashboard. Would be great if you could share your Lovelace yaml with us. Im pretty interested on how you have managed to group all the different cards in very neat views and spaced out perfectly.
this!
Really like this video.. so you know what that means..... it means I now have another project to put on the to do list ! Thanks Lewis !!!!! :-) I like that case and I think having a removable side from both sides means you could fit it snug up to a door frame and still be able to slide the tablet in from the left of right.. nice one... get it uploaded to thingyverse buddy..
Thanks man! Sorry about your ever growing list of projects... Will do for sure!
Well done. You answered a couple of questions I had about a home display.
Nice one!
You made me add this back on to my list. I have Kindle fires on a few walls but I don't have a special dash for them. Also, another thing you can do is take a chunky picture frame and hull out the back to place the tablet in, it looks really good from the front (even if it looks bad from the back). Also, this is another great application for PoE. I inject power through some old security wiring.
That's a pretty good idea too!
Hi :) I love your dashboard. Do you have a tutorial of your dashboard design? Did you use Minimalist? It would be awesome if you would share how you did it, similar to the video for the mobile dashboard. Thanks!
Please can you do a video on switching tabs to a full screen camera on an event such as the doorbell
Great work. I usually lasercut 1 or 2 mm black acrylic to cover up the top of my 3D printed screencasing to get a perfect endresult. (no lines).
Excellent video Excited to see this project progress!
Thank you sir!
Can you share your home assistant dashboard when you are done with it? It looks absolutely lovely and I'd love to do something similar
same here!
Yes please
Me too please...
yes please do- Cause i need to find something that is easy to use for my wife
@@ahnernoch l Ooo
Looks great, are you still using Frigate for your cameras?
Cool to see you here Rob!
Hey thanks Rob, appreciate it as always! Yes I still use Frigate with a Coral, it's running really well actually, still need to get some time to finish the automations though
@@EverythingSmartHome time... oh time to finish things haha will never happen :)
@@EverythingSmartHome Looking into object/person detection as well. Do you stream your cameras directly to HA or do you have a NVR in-between? In other words: do you also store you video recordings somewhere, or do you only use real-time with notifications on detection?
Never knew about Frigate - glad I read these comments!
that’s exactly, what i’m searched for. Many thanks for sharing
Amazing! Thank you for the innovation! Love it!
Cheers Andrew!
What an incredible build! It turned out great! I've been considering something similar using an iPad running HomeKit but, as you mentioned, there are some obstacles there. My biggest question though is about how useful it actually is. I imagine it being pretty great for cameras, but in terms of controlling devices, a room-based controller seems more feasible.
Hey thanks my friend! Haha, there is certainly something to be said for just the coolness factor of it over function but still I do occasionally find it useful!
All depends on the functions of the system. Checking if the doors are locked before bed for instance is very helpful. But just controlling your lights is less compelling.
I almost think that is why it would be better to put it in the kitchen somewhere. You could make it so you can quickly add items you've run out of in your fridge. Watch cooking videos, find recipes and control your TV to cast content onto it. Also adding voice control to all the features would be super helpful to make it seem like a truly smart home.
what room based controller do you recommend?
@@blakeseufert7340 Well thats the word "smart" comes in. A smart home/system is not smart if you need to manually controll or check everything (even from a display or phone). Its just a more modern way to controll you lights ect. The smart part is doing this automatic. Like locking the door when you go to bed.
Please can you publish the files for the frame, I know you said in the video about the limitations of your printer but the frame looks good on the wall.
Thanks for all of your informative content. When you get some time, I would really like to know how you built that dashboard. Really like te fact that you can get to pretty much everything from one screen.
Amazing video! Excellent ideas and execution.
Thank you buddy!
This is a great little guide. I would love to get this done for me. Could you share the 3D print file please?
Looks great. You mentioned how well it feels in the hands. Have you considered a magnetic mount with induction charging so it could be used in hand as well as on the wall?
Induction charging cooks the battery and really reduces the lifespan. Really bad for a device that'll be sitting on it all the time.
Such a good idea. Well executed. Looks great.
Thanks buddy!
Hi Lewis, actually I bought the same tablet last week for my wall dashboard 😊. Didn't have time to install it but will do very soon. Thank you for your video 👍
Amazing, enjoy and hope that it goes smoothly for you!
This looks great! I have the same tablet. Would you be able to make the 3D model for the frame available please?
me2 i'll like it as well
Me too
+1 bought a few of this tablet to put around the house to control my house, hanging on the wall will make it better in some locations.
Hoping for this too…
Me 5 please!
Where we can find the 3d model of the case you designed?
The doorbell screen is great. Ive done it with my HA setup using node red flows. With the api of fully kiosk it makes it easy to change pages on your dashboard
Thanks Jack! It sure is!
Awesome! I'm working on displaying Mailbox notifications on mine! You're right about the fire tablets - I did a video showing how I set mine up with a Fire tablet, but should have discussed my choice (I chose based on price and housing/mount availability). But it is definitely not as smooth of an experience as a Galaxy Tab I'm sure. Great video!
Thank you, price is certainly a big factor! I need to do some more work on notifications!
I went exactly through the same journey a couple years back. I used a Kindle Fire HD 10 with a PoE adapter for two years until the battery shat the bed and started to shut down the tablet. I switched to a used 5th gen iPad because of the better battery management in iOS. You can wake the iPad when it’s in single app mode with a separate motion sensor and a homekit notification btw!
Also used the fire tab myself, I wasn't impressed and would recommend spending the little extra for something better.
Hey Lewis, great work - very similar to my setup. How do you have the buttons for different rooms setup on your panel? It looks like a custom card or input select.. I currently have multiple tabs which can be fiddly to navigate and you have a really clean solution.
That's a really neat install Lewis, great video too! Looking forward to updates on it as well 😊
Thanks Rob, hope your well!
That looks awesome, nice work mate!
Thanks!
Please share your 3d printing drawings for case
can you please share stl file from that wallmount ??
It’s been month since I look for make a wall panel too with the same requirements ! Thanks for putting all together. I’ve an old nvidia shield tablet, I’m gonna use that for now but will take a 10´, just waiting for a good promo ! Thanks for your videos, always complete, clear instructions and so cool to watch :D
Thanks and good luck!
thank you for the video, just what I was looking for and it looks good!
Thanks for watching!
I am not sure if this is somewhere else in the tons of comments, but I was wondering if you were willing to put your 3D print for the mount online for others to print? That mount is pretty awesome!
Apparently he isn't listening, just after the revenue for YT.
Use wood
@@sundance2005I mean that’s the point of having a KZhead channel for full time KZheadrs……
@@garethkalber72360:28
Would love the stl file for the case as is!!!!
Wouldnt mind a look at the stl file myself.....
You are a genius. I am very impress with the design of the case. Splitting the design in 3 parts is perfect. I think you should make it available for people to purchase the case. You could also create and sell cases for other tablet brands.
That is a sweet setup! I really need to change the way I say route.
Thank you for sharing your tremendous knowledge
Awesome job. So much inspiration to get from your videos :)
Thanks Martin, that's very kind 🙏
Love this! Planning to go the Pi route, love most of my stuff to be custom
Thanks for this guide!! nice MKBHD
Loved the details on this video ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🇨🇦
Creative. Love it.❤
Good video. Like the automatic full screen switch when camera is on motion view.
Nice job with the panel, looks very tidy!
Thanks Richard!
Great to see that you thought about battery management. Having it charging 24x7 is not great and also running it down all the time like a phone is also not great. At least the smart plug can help manage it!
I would love this for monitoring stuff like room temp and setpoint temp. Power consumption, solar power generation, stuff like that
Very slick. Nice to see you got through the print bed size issue. Hmm, I need to make a nice tablet interface now...
Haha, now you see my dilemma with the print bed size!
Very good video, I like your ideas , will follow you for sure . Thanks
Very innovative build! Kudos
Thanks for watching!
Interesting project. Last week I started on my master plan - doing the complete opposite. It’s difficult to plan for every scenario but I want the house to just “know”
Having the house "just know" is definitely what the smart home should be about. But having a dashboard that shows what the house is thinking, and lets you override it if necessary, is still very useful.
Amazing video! I have a similar project in the works with a Fire tablet. I'd love to get more information on how you made the dashboard. Keep up the great work!!
Thanks, good luck with the project!
Very professional!
Awesome project. I have been thinking of tackling the same thing. We'll see how it goes!
Thanks! Let me know how you get on!
Thanks for sharing, My automation that I would like to do is to bring back the main dashbord menu by itself if there's no activity for a certain period of time 😊
Yes your wall tablet looks great
I love it . You are very good idea 👍
Looks fantastic
I love it. Great work!
Thanks, appreciate it!
I've wanted a display on the wall out of sight from the door that would automatically show the doorbell camera ever since I got a doorbell camera. I'd be happy if that's all this thing did, haha. I would love to have access to the other smart home controls too. That just seems so cool to me.
subscribed! i have newer seen so much control of yours on smart devices defiantly like to see what’s next about you’ll going to do with tablet
Thanks buddy!
Lewis, great vid thanks. You're the only YT'er I know that gets out of breath just by talking 😂! I know you didn't want to mess around with cables and such but to get the flattest USB charger profile, look for the Qi wireless charging plates. They have some with the flattest possible right-angled USB-C head. Just cut the wire loom part off. Might allow you shave a bit more off that mount. I tried your write-up link by the way but it no workie. I was looking to see how you did your dash?
Great job Lewis! The "Written Article" link in the comments goes to your blog main page, but there isn't any info there that I could find. Not sure if that was accidental, just thought you should know. Also, Hiro is now called Locket. We would love to see the 3D print and HA dashboard files if you get a chance. Thank you for your videos!
Absolutely love this. I’m in the process of setting mine up using some old iPads. They’re great for basic buttons, but useless for camera feeds. I might buy a dedicated tablet like yours for the main hallway. I’m using HADashboard I think it’s called. Looking forward to seeing more tablet updates!!
Awesome! Good luck!
Very nice build, well done for persevering with the case (I'd have been tempted to drill the back and solder on a power connector, your way is much more flexible). I'm planning a wall display for garden watering... Big garden with lots of zones, tank water vs tap water, temp/humidity, etc.
Thanks John! I look forward to seeing what you make, make sure and send it to me!
Hi! Very nice design. I struggle on implementing it close to your design. Can you provide either some config or hints on how you get the 3 pane setup (e.g. selection of rooms on top, weather on right side, most controls on main window). Thanks for any pointer in the right direction.
Excellent your project, I am entering the world of home assistant. Thanks.
Have fun!
@@EverythingSmartHome There is as much to enjoy as there is so much to learn
I just loved this video. Really amazing idea, I would love to try this, maybe with an older tablet. I'm wondering if I could build a kind of nest hub, adding some speakers to it 🤔🤔